Joanna Leger
2011
THE JOURNEY
Independent Study Project
Life of Pi, Native Son, and The Road
What is “THE JOURNEY”?
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“...follows a character or
characters through a series of
episodic adventures as they
travel” (Common Themes)
Could be emotionally,
physically, or mentally tough
or pleasing
Often ends positively or
negatively (success or death)
and character(s) gain/lose
something
Huckleberry Finn, The Odyssey
(Google Images)
Yann Martel
Father was a Canadian diplomat so
they lived all around the world which
influenced his works
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Studied philosophy and travelled to
India as an adult visiting temples, zoos,
and churches
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7 published works but best known for
Life of Pi which won the Man Booker
Prize for Fiction in 2002
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Won 7 major awards for his works
including Hugh MacLennan Prize for
Fiction, Governor General’s Award for
Fiction, and Chapters/Books in Canada
First Novel Award
(Yann Martel)
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(Google Images)
Life Of Pi
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“The reason death sticks so closely to life isn’t biological
necessity – it’s envy. Life is so beautiful that death has
fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that
grabs at what it can.”
Published in 2001
Fantasy/adventure/philosophical novel
Set in India, Pacific Ocean, Mexico (227
days) in 1970’s
Main Characters:
-Piscine Molitor Patel (“Pi”)
-Richard Parker (Royal Bengal tiger)
-Father Martin, the Pandit (Hindu), Satish
Kumar (Atheist/Muslim)
-Ravi, Gita, and Santosh Patel
-The Hyena (The Cook), Orange Juice, The
Zebra (The Sailor)
-Tomohiro Okamoto, Atsuro Chiba
(Martel)
“…a realization that the founding
principle of existence is what we call love,
which works itself out sometimes not
clearly, not cleanly, not immediately,
nonetheless ineluctably.”
(Google Images)
What Happens?
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The JOURNEY of Pi Patel’s life
-Zoology
-Religion
-Love
-Moves to Canada
-Ship sinking
http://youtu.be/vqLcVMqYwtg#t=2
6s
-Survival on lifeboat (delusion,
insanity, extreme, love)
-Lands on an island
-Back out at sea
-Rescue to Mexican shore
-Interview with Japanese
(Martel)
(Google Images)
How does it relate to “THE JOURNEY”?
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endures through
physically and
emotionally trying
situations while
traveling on the boat
ends positively and
successfully defeats
death
(Google Images)
Richard Wright
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Author of often racial-themed and
controversial novels due to his
experiences with racism
Only received a grammar school
education
Joined Communist Party because of
Great Depression
Influenced by Harlem Renaissance writers
Most known for Uncle Tom’s Children
(1938) (Book of the Month Club), Native
Son (1940) Black Boy (1945), Lawd Today
(1963)
Awards: Spingarn Medal, Guggenheim
Fellowship, and the Story Magazine
Award
Moved to Paris and was an expatriate
(Richard Wright
(author))
(Google Images)
Native Son
Published in 1940
 Social protesting/urban
novel
 Set in the 1930’s in
Chicago
 Main characters:
-Bigger Thomas
-Mary Dalton
-Bessie Mears
-Jan Erlone
-Boris A. Max
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(Wright)
(Google Images)
What happens?
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Follows Bigger’s JOURNEY to find identity
-Feels oppressed and convicted by
white society all of his life
anger and gang afiliation
-Employed by Mr. And Mrs. Dalton
-Kills Mary Dalton
power and identity
-Escapes with Bessie and then kills her
-Avoids police
-Jail and trial
Sees equality in whites and blacks
-Sentenced to death
-Product of society?
(Wright)
(Google
Images)
How does it relate to “THE JOURNEY”?
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Searching for his
identity
Goes through a series of
adventures (crimes,
murders, escapes…)
Gets what he searched
for but ends negatively
http://youtu.be/6wEobL
ttxEg?t=40s
(Google Images)
Cormac McCarthy
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Novelist and playwright
Works usually explore the southern
gothic, western, and modernists
themes
Best known for The Road, which won
the Pulitzer Prize
No Country For Old Men, All the
Pretty Horses, Blood Meridian
Won multiple awards for books
(Believer Book Award, Guggenheim
Fellowship, National Book Award…)
along with Academy awards for
movies
Compared to William Faulkner
(Cormac McCarthy)
(Google Images)
The Road
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Published in 2006
Post-apocalyptic and
environmentalist novel
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Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2007
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Major Characters
-The Man
-The Boy
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Inspired by his trip to El Paso, Texas
with his son
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Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club
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Metacritic- 90 out of 100
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Created into a movie in 2009
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Emotional, frightening, father/son
love story
(McCarthy)
(Google Images)
What happens?
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World has ended from an unexplained
catastrophe, leaving the world grim and gray
Follows the JOURNEY of a man and his son
trying to find life and benevolent civilization
-Go south on empty highway
to escape harsh winter and
“bad guys
-Carry only backpacks
and a shopping cart full
of canned goods,
blankets, tarps…
-Find a house with
humans locked in a
cellar waiting to be
eaten by cannibals
(Google
Images)
-Begin to see more
people but they are
the “bad guys” (kill
a man, see
cannibalistic
nomadic tribes)
-near death (starvation
and sickness), but
luckily find a
underground cellar full
of everything they
could need and
eventually leave
-the man soon dies
because the
conditions have not
improved and the
boy is left alone
(McCarthy)
-Continue on encountering
more cannibalistic tribes,
abandoned houses (newborn
baby)
-Family approaches the boy and they ask him to join
him and
the journey
continues….
Father and Son Relationship
What keeps them alive for so long
-convinces that they are the “good guys”
and they “carry the fire”
-man always puts boy first
-man constantly pushes boy to endure but
when the man gets sick the tables turn
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“What would you do if I died?
If you died I would want to die too.
So you could be with me?
Yes. So I could be with you.”
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Conflicts mostly due to boy’s
misunderstanding
-gets angry when he kills “bad guys”, or
when they don’t help people
-man is just trying to keep them safe
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(Google
Images)
(McCarthy)
How does it relate to “THE JOURNEY”?
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Set out to search for
better conditions
Tolerate horrifying
and life-threatening
episodes daily
Ends with both utter
sorrow and hope
http://youtu.be/hbLgs
zfXTAY
(Google Images)
(Google Images)
THANK YOU
Works Cited
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"Common Themes in Literature." Common Themes in Literature. Daniel Snyder, 30 Aug. 2006.
Web. 18 May 2011. <http://www3.delta.edu/drsnyder/CommonThemesInLiterature.html>.
"Cormac McCarthy." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, 11 May 2011. Web. 18
May 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormac_mccarthy>.
"Google Images." Google. Google. Web. 18 May 2011.
<http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en>.
Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. [Waterville, ME]: Wheeler Pub., 2003. Print.
McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. Thorndike, Me.: Center Point Pub., 2007. Print.
"Richard Wright (author)." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, 10 May 2011. Web.
18 May 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wright_(author)>.
Wright, Richard. Native Son. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005. Print.
"Yann Martel." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, 4 Apr. 2011. Web. 18 May
2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yann_Martel>.
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. YouTube. Web. 18 May 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/>.